What 'Sustainable' Actually Means When You Buy Clothes
Fewer, better, and worn longer — plus the questions worth asking a seller before you believe the label.
Sustainability has become a label rather than a claim anyone checks. Three questions cut through it.
- Who made it, and where? A brand that cannot name the cluster or the unit is not tracking it.
- What is it made of? A cotton-polyester blend cannot be recycled or composted. Single-fibre garments can.
- How long will it last? Thirty wears is the floor worth aiming for.
Handloom scores well on all three, and the money goes to a weaver rather than a machine. It is also, usually, the more comfortable cloth in Indian heat.